Our almost 2 year old.

V.A.N.C.E.

He sure is a character!

He loves...

-being outside & cries EVERY time you drag him in,

-to wear his bike helmet all day,

-sitting on the go kart & wearing protective head phones,

-doing anything his brothers are doing,

-anyone with short dark hair & will lay on their shoulder all day (seriously!)

-tape measures & screw drivers

-his little blankie

-loves to help mom anytime kitchen appliances are involved

(microwave, blender, mixer, food processor, etc!)

As a typical almost 2 year old in the midst of learning many of life's lessons,

he also...hits,

bites (just his brothers),

& throws tantrums

when he gets frustrated or upset about things.

Ohh can't wait til we get over that part!

Vance covering his head with his blankie playing peek-a-boo.

He wanted to be a big boy & sleep with his brother during rest time.

1st time out of his crib & he slept on that pillow the whole time.

He's getting himself ready for a big bed!

Vance needs to make sure he's part of anything dad is doing.

In this case, he helped put together our bike rack

that holds 5 bikes.

It going to be great seeing the van with a big long bike rack on the back this summer!

Vance is obsessed with tape measures & screwdrivers.

You will always see him with one or the other in his had.

He is going to have a job that builds or fixes things (FORSURE!)

This particular day he went & got his stool so he could reach the 

screws on the back of the swing.

Luke was checking something on the go-kart

(aka Vance's favorite toy in the whole world!)

so he had to get right in there & unscrew a few things too.

Just yesterday Vance came up to Luke & gave him a screw from 

somewhere off of the go-kart!

He is my little baker, which I love.

Every one of the boys has been my sidekick when I bake sweets.

Who can blame them, they know it always means so dough to eat.

But I caught Vance bringing his stool over to the bowl 

so he could help himself!

What a stinker...when I caught him he smiled & hid his face!

Luke & I can't believe he's going to be 2 in a couple months.

That means it's potty training time.

AHHHH I cringe thinking about it,

but you might as well just get it over with

so we don't have to buy diapers anymore.

Now if that's not some good motivation

I don't know what is!

Easter.

Easter was wonderful.

It a time that I'm reminded to teach my kids about Jesus dying on the cross for us.

I repeatedly ask them the true reason for Easter

& I know I've done a pretty good job when they say,

"Because Jesus rose up to heaven!"

Easter is such a biblical time.

(like Christmas)

It helps remind our family to focus more on Christ.

We get to watch the Ten Commandments, & The Passion,

we read children's christian books about Easter,

this year I rented a children's version of the Ten Commandments

& the boys loved it & are starting to understand the story better each year,

we go to church dressed in our best,

& this year we really enjoyed the warm weather for an egg hunt.

Of course we also spend time with family!

We spent the night at G & G Herdina 

& had a riot with all the uncles, aunts & cousins.

Everyone went to Ryan & Lisa's farm the day before

& the weather was gorgeous(!)

Luke & his brothers & sister, along with some nieces & nephews,

 got into a heated game of bball in the big shed.

And while the older crowd was getting all hot & sweaty

running around like a bunch of school kids

the younger group of boys rode scooters, ran around, & played on the gravel pile. 

The next morning all the kids wanted to ride in the good ol van!

And believe it or not, we had room for all of them.

The van consisted of 8 kids, Luke & I, Frozen playing on the big screen

& lots & lots of laughs.

This van is the best thing we've bought yet!

I bet we secretly have all the Herdina's looking into buying one now.

haha the kids all want one & who could blame them! 

Vance found his 2 favorite aunts to cuddle with for the weekend.

Of course it was the 2 with shorter dark hair. Robyn & Tracy.

It's his thing.

He will bat his eyes at them until they pick him up.

Then he will snuggle in & stay that way

for as long as they will let him.

It's very strange, odd, weird, or whatever you want to call it.

Here's a little proof.

Cousins!

G & G had a egg hunt & hid a basket for each of the grandkids.

They loved it & ate a whole bunch of candy before church.

This was all before 8:30 in the morning!

To keep Vance busy we just brought in the big tricycle

so he could fix on it!

 

We also spent whole day at G & G Johnson's.

The day started with going to Central Park in Litchfield

for the best Easter Egg Hunt we've been to.

Not too many kids, lots of eggs, & good candy!!!

Grandpa Wayne & Gabe came too.

Vance had a good time picking up eggs.

And the other boys ran for their life filling their baskets.

Mike, Em & Levi came to the park too.

Too bad we didn't spend much time together

because the hunt was over in a matter of minutes.

But we all went to the Opera house for a little more Easter fun.

Vance screamed & cried at the sight of the bunny.

So this was the best picture I could get.

(the bunny was quite scary!)

It's nice going to the farm because the boys go outside & play in the barn 

& Vance gets to see all of his favorite animals.

It little calf season on the farm.

And the season for mucky poopy pasture by the barn. Poor cowies.

We hopped on the ranger to get a good look at feeding the cows.

As requested, grandpa Wayne gave the boys a Easter egg hunt 

with eggs filled with money!

The boys are now ready for garage sale season with all the coins.

Uncle Joe even became a human merry-go-round!

The day also consisted of many ranger rides.

Our family was home for Easter Sunday.

The weather was gorgeous & we took full advantage of it.

We went to church, searched for Easter baskets

& had a egg hunt.

The rest of the day was spent outside cleaning up the trails in our woods 

& getting outside stuff organized.

At the end of the day I was sore and worn out.

It was awesome!

Happy Easter!

Springtime fun.

I recently had a BIG surprise for the boys during 'rest time'.

I got out our portable DVD player & started a movie for them!

They thought I was so wonderful.

Adler painting a tractor scene (like grandma Yvonne taught him). 

Some friends of ours remodeled their lake home & the boys & I got to 

have fun with two little girls in the house! 

Little Kalina was a difficult one to watch! 

You know it's a snuggle day when the boys 

bring out their John Deere pillows!  

On a snowy spring day we stayed inside & read a bunch of books.

Olivia likes to get in on the snuggling too! 

Grandma & grandpa Herdina came to spend the night 

& cousins stopped by too.

The boys love playing with Sawyer & the girls. 

My close girlfriend Katie (& hubby Peter) had their first little baby.

I finally got a chance to stop by & meet him.

He's so darn sweet! 

 Momma Katie & Winston.

Some other friends in town wanted a date night

& since their little man is still little we got the opportunity to watch 

him & his sister.

The boys just love playing with Ingrid,

& they we so excited to see baby Nels again! 

When little babes come over I just bring up our baby swing &

let them relax.

I love having all these babies around to watch! 

Movie night. 

Adler & Brock recently started swimming lessons at

Monticello Community Center.  While one is at lessons

the other one climbs the big rock wall.

Here's Brock waiting for his turn & Vance is getting ready to watch him conquer it! 

Fun on the rock wall. 

Then is was time for Brock to go to lessons 

& Adler got to rock climb. 

He did one of the hardest climbs & made it to the top! 

Having fun indoors, waiting for Spring weather. 

Adler has Kindergarten homework to do 

(since he goes every other day)

& we squeeze it in wherever we can,

even if it means in the bathroom!

Brock also feels like he needs homework,

so I give him some too! 

Then I have a day like this....

where you feel your whole house is a mess

& there's little hope that it will be clean ever again!

This was my laundry pile the other day.

(Olivia sure doesn't mind.  I found her sleeping right in the middle of the pile) 

Then I actually got the house picked up,

just to get messed up again!

Easter egg dying time. 

At the same time I had a craving for monster cookie dough.

Vance always helps me make sweets

& when I turned around he got his stool & a spoon so he could eat the dough!

Ohh my, he's sure my kid!

(then I had to explain that we don't do that.) 

But how could you resist.

I mean, look at that dough! 

I can't remember the last time I actually bought a dvd from the store

 (of course you can't count all the ones from garage sales or random

donation from great grandma Elois)

but I had a return at Barnes & Noble,

which resulted in a gift card,

which led me to a small table by the checkout with 

one dvd of Frozen left for 40% off.

So.....I bought it.

The stars had to align for me to actually buy something like that,

but you can't argue with free!

The boys have not stopped watching it either.

And I have to say, I love the songs on it.

My boys now sing 'let it go' throughout the day! 

The weather has not been good so far in April, but we bundle up 

& still manage to get out & play with toys. 

And this was the morning the boys had to get outside 

to help dad dig out his car so he could get to work!

Here's to warmer weather,

for the sake of all of us!